ST. CROIX — Senator Kenneth Gittens, vice-chairman of the\u00a0Legislature\u2019s Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety, on Monday said\u00a0he was emotionally torn between being outraged and being saddened upon hearing of yet\u00a0another boating accident that took place in St. Thomas, near the docking facility located at the Crown Bay Marina.<\/p>\n
The accident, which occurred on Sunday at about 7:00 p.m., left two individuals dead and three more injured, who were said to be in serious but non life-threatening condition.<\/p>\n
According to the senator, the accident comes two days shy of a month since\u00a0several passengers were injured when two vessels collided in waters north of St. Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been looking at the increasing frequency of these types of accidents and realized\u00a0having some personnel and a vessel in the water and on patrol would limit the response\u00a0time and increase the possibility of saving lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Gittens pledged to continue encouraging action from the responsible\u00a0departments, renewing his call for increased patrol in the waters around the territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u00a0have had discussions with commissioners of both Virgin Islands Police Department and\u00a0Planning and Natural Resources Department, explaining my concern. If this last accident\u00a0has not shed light on the high marine traffic between the islands and the need for our\u00a0emergency first responding agencies to always stand ready for these types of\u00a0emergencies, I don\u2019t know what will,\u201d\u00a0Mr. Gittens, a former law enforcement officer, added.<\/p>\n
The senator concluded that the time is now to pool resources and to better protect\u00a0the residents and visitors traversing the seas by pleasure vessels or daily passenger ferries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would certainly behoove us to launch initiatives for increased patrol and heightened\u00a0safety initiatives. Increased cost should never be a deterrent if it means the difference in\u00a0saving lives,\u201d Senator Gittens concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ST. CROIX — Senator Kenneth Gittens, vice-chairman of the\u00a0Legislature\u2019s Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety, on Monday said\u00a0he was emotionally torn between being outraged and being saddened upon hearing of yet\u00a0another boating accident that took place in St. Thomas, near the docking facility located at the Crown Bay Marina. The accident, which occurred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[191,147],"tags":[3879,1313,1314,70],"yoast_head":"\n